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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Posting in transit from Beijing to Moscow

There is no BEA news in this post other than to share my pain and the effort involved to make some of BEA's initiatives come to fruition that are of value to BEA exhibitors and attendees. While trips to Beijing and Moscow imply cool and maybe even exotic, they are long hours, lots of prep work to set up meetings sandwiched around a wicked travel schedule. The purpose is for BEA to build relationships with the associations, government agencies and publishers that will use BEA as a platform to buy & sell rights, establish distribution partnerships, or bring compelling content/technolgy to be discovered by the BEA audience.

With days like today - that mission is not a cake walk with bon bons. I am in a middle seat in a middle section in the cattle of coach. While that is not unusual - this part I wish was fiction. The passengers next to me arrived seconds before the doors closed and with them out went my hopes for the room of an empty adjoining seat. They are 2 LARGE Russian gentleman. I learned on Air China the Duty Free cart includes Chivas Regal. Also on Air China - you get your duty free purchase for immediate use or consumption. My 2 neighbors and their lady friend finished their liter of Chivas and coke in about an hour. They are now totally passed out. I have had the joy of sharing about 1/3 of my seat with my passed out neighbor for the last 3 hours. Oh yeah - my iPod ran out of battery, there is no in flight entertainment and my overhead light does not work so I can't read anything. After an 8 hour flight, it will be straight to the Moscow Book Fair's Book of the Year awards (which will of course be all in Russian). Oooh - the in flight snack is being served - I am hoping it has eel again like dinner. Cool and exotic, yes?
Sincerely,
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Steven Rosato
Event Director-BookExpo America srosato@reedexpo.com
Sent from my BlackBerry